One of the key texts from American Earth is the piece written by Edward Abbey on Industrial Tourism and the National Parks. It depicts the unraveling of events in a modern time where the planned roads appear and congest the deserts with tourists (Gore, 2008). The wave of industrial tourism is now comprised of new tourists who embrace modern bathrooms, Coke machines, and even electric toothbrushes. Edward laments at the continuous destruction of the national park system. The parks are supposedly for people, yet the same people stay in their cars to experience nature. Abbey writes that the motorized tourists are the chief victims of the system where they are robbed by building pavements and destroying nature’s natural feel and green features. They deprive themselves by refusing to leave their comfort zones. They are unwilling to crawl from the comfort of their cars, and they consequently deny themselves the pleasure of experiencing the treasures of the national parks.
Edward proposes that for people to experience nature satisfactorily, they should leave their comforts. They should preserve the little nature left by controlling the impact of mechanization and technology on these regions. For a long time, humans have innately been attracted to nature. The presence of the natural world and its wide variety of colors, shapes, and life received appreciation, and such appreciation is the indication of biophilia (Kellert, 2018). Biophilia evidence sources are found in language use, such as in idioms “fast as a deer” and the spiritual implication of animals in some cultures, where they are considered to have some spiritual reverence. The widespread connections of natural metaphors and spiritual experiences had their roots in the human species’ evolutionary past when people had closer contact with nature compared to today. There has been a separation because of the building of sterile and enclosed spaces, including cars, workspaces, and homes in which most people spend most of their time.
As depicted by Edward Abbey’s piece, the advent of technology has resulted in a significant decline in the environment’s state. Air pollution, contaminated water from rivers, and global warming due to urbanization now mark the environment’s state. Additionally, the disconnect occurs from childhood, where children’s interactions in the green fields of nature have been reduced to playing videogames in houses. There is a cultural change away from nature; for instance, from 1950, there has been a decline in referencing nature in lyrics of songs, movie storylines, and even fiction books. Nonetheless, an increase in reference to the human-made environment occurs daily. There has been a foregone psychological and physical benefit from connecting with nature (Ives et al., 2018). Cultural products, which are proxies of socialization, do not conjure concern, respect, and curiosity for nature anymore.
The increased adoption of urbanization and disconnection to nature has resulted in rising risks of cardiovascular disease, stroke, and mental illness. A study conducted by EPA shows that the average person in America spends approximately 93 percent of their life indoors, with about 6 percent of this time in vehicles and the remaining 87 in buildings (Ives et al., 2018). Thus, the majority of the time used in electronic devices or social media has consequences. The rising reliance on smartphones, computers, and television detaches us from nature, to which we are better adapted. In the same way, electronic device usage results in health decline and reduction in values such as brotherhood, empathy, respect, and consideration, the time spent indoors away from nature also decreases good health. Thus, separation from nature has profound impacts on our health.
References
Gore, A. (2008). American earth: environmental writing since Thoreau (Vol. 182). Literary Classics of United States.
Ives, C. D., Abson, D. J., von Wehrden, H., Dorninger, C., Klaniecki, K., & Fischer, J. (2018). Reconnecting with nature for sustainability. Sustainability science, 13(5), 1389-1397.
Kellert, S. R. (2018). Nature by design: The practice of biophilic design. yale university press.
